It’s the end of another year. It’s time to reflect and look at what has worked for you and…what hasn’t.

I find it imperative to reflect more and more as I seek to take responsibility to create my life and have the impact on the world that I intend. This doesn’t happen without doing it on purpose.

I’m doing something new this year, I offer two options.  Read on and see what fits for you.

Option 1 (Simple and done before the end of this year.)

Here are some simple questions you should consider;

What is the best decision you’ve made all year?
Who had the biggest impact on you this year?
What is the single most important thing that you need to let go of now and not bring into next year?

What are you going to purposefully and consciously put effort, focus and intention into for the new year?

Option 2 (Complex and intended to be practiced all through 2017)

Try the following.  Each is potentially life changing.

1. Give thanks.  Once a day take quiet time to feel gratitude for what you have, not impatience or a sense of lack for what you don’t have.  This alone will bring you halfway to happiness.  We already have most of the ingredients of a happy life.  It’s just that we tend to take these for granted and focus on unmet wants and unfulfilled desires.  Giving thanks is better than shopping-and cheaper too.

2. Praise and bless.  Catch someone doing something right and say so.  Most people, most of the time, are unappreciated.  Being recognized, thanked and congratulated by someone else is one of the most empowering things that can happen to us.  So don’t wait for someone to do it for you; do it for someone else.  You’ll make their day and that’ll help make yours.

3. Spend time with your family.  Make sure that there is at least one time a week when you sit down to have a meal together with no distractions-no television, phone, email, just being together and celebrating one another’s company.  Happy intimate partnerships and healthy families need dedicated time.

4. Discover meaning.  Take time out, once in a while to ask,”Why am I here?  What do I hope to achieve?  How can I use my gifts?  What would I wish to be said about me when I’m gone from this world?  Finding meaning is essential to living a fulfilled life and how can you find it if you aren’t looking?  If you don’t know where you want to be, you’ll never get there, no matter how fast you’re moving.

5. Live your values.  Most of us believe in high ideals, yet we act on them sporadically.  The best thing you can do is establish habits that get you connected to your ideals daily.  These are your patterns and rituals.  Base them around what’s important to you.

6. Forgive.  This is the emotional equivalent of losing excess weight.  Life is too short to bear a grudge or seek revenge.  Forgiving someone is good for them but it’s even better for you.  The bad thing has happened.  It won’t be made better by dwelling on it.  Let it go and fucking move on.

7. Keep learning.  I heard about a woman named Florence, who was 105 years old.  She was full of energy and fun.  When asked what the secret was she said,”Never be afraid to learn something new.”  So you can be 105 and still young or you can be 25 and already old.

8. Learn to listen.  Often in conversation we spend more time thinking about what we’re going to say next instead of paying attention and listening for deeper comprehension to what the person is saying.  Listening is one of greatest gifts we give to one another.  It means that we are open to them, that we take them seriously and that we appreciate the gift of their words.

9. Create moments of silence in your soul.  Liberate yourself for ten minutes a day from the tyranny of technology, phones, laptops and any other electronic intrusions.  Inhale the air of existence and the joy of being you.

10. Reframe and transform suffering.  When bad things happen, use them to sensitize you to the pain of others and the world.  The greatest and most powerful people I know, who’ve survived tragedy and became stronger as a result ask,”What does this allow me to do that I could not before?” rather than,”Who did this to me?”  They refused to become victims of circumstance and instead continually become agents of hope.

I’d like to hear your thoughts so email me.
[email protected]

Comments

comments